First murder trial in 24 years ends in conviction

The island’s first murder trial in 24 years ended a sad and disturbing chapter in Nantucket history when in June a jury convicted Thomas Toolan and sentenced him to life in prison.

Toolan, a former Manhattan bank executive, was charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth “Beth” Lochtefeld, in 2004. The Lochtefeld family, including Beth’s parents, John and Judy Lochtefeld, were a steady presence in the courtroom throughout the two-week trial in Nantucket Superior Court. Family members embraced and wept together in the courtroom when the guilty verdict was announced.

Rejecting defense attorney Kevin Reddington’s argument that Toolan was insane at the time of the murder, jurors said they found no evidence of a mental disease or defect, and decided that the killing was the premeditated act of a man who knew what he was doing and understood the consequences.

Both regional and national media closely followed the murder trial, which was eventually featured on a “Dateline NBC” special. Toolan was flown back and forth to the island each day from the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, where he had been held without bail since his arrest in October 2004.

Lochtefeld, a successful New York businesswoman, had lived on Nantucket for only a brief time before she was introduced to Toolan on Labor Day weekend in 2004 through a mutual friend, Bernadette Feeney, of Orange Street. Their connection was described as “intense” and “palpable” by Feeney during the trial, but the relationship began to fall apart in October, and Lochtefeld rejected Toolan’s marriage proposal at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

After Lochtefeld fled his apartment and traveled back to Nantucket, a drunk and depressed Toolan contemplated suicide on the roof of the New York Athletic Club, but was talked down by a friend. Two days later, on Oct. 25, 2004, Toolan followed Lochtefeld to the island, rented a car at Nantucket Memorial Airport, drove to her Hawthorne Lane cottage, and killed her with a knife he had purchased at Brant Point Marine.

After the verdict was announced in June, the Lochtefeld family stood together and addressed the media for the first time since the trial began.

“It’s not a happy day for anyone – we don’t rejoice in this,” said Tom Lochtefeld, Beth’s brother, outside the courthouse. “We find no glee that he’ll spend the rest of his life in some hellhole.”

Catherine Lochtefeld, Beth’s sister, read a victim-impact statement on behalf of the family in the courthouse, which her brother Jim read again for the television cameras outside the building.

“We can never forget the sorrow brought on by her death – sudden, violent, undeserved and alone. Our grief was sharp, intense, palpable and difficult to bear,” Catherine Lochtefeld said. “We do not rejoice that Mr. Toolan’s parents have, for all purposes, lost their son, even as Beth’s parents have lost their daughter. Yet we are relieved that this troubled, vengeful and dangerous man will never be able to harm another innocent person.”

After nearly three weeks of listening to testimony and legal arguments, as well as reviewing a mountain of evidence, members of the jury left the courthouse quickly, attempting to avoid the media by exiting the building through a side door. One juror, Kelly Garrett, said there was no evidence presented that convinced her Toolan was insane at the time of the murder.

“We went through all the medical records with a fine-toothed comb,” Garrett said at the time. “There just wasn’t evidence of that in the medical records. We looked at the law and we felt he was responsible.”

Barry Paulsen, another of the 12 jurors, said there was no compelling evidence offered by the defense that proved Toolan could not understand the wrongfulness of his actions.

“In my opinion, it boiled down to common sense, more than anything else,” Paulsen said. “I don’t care how you put it, the guy was conscious of what he was doing. Reddington’s summary was probable one of the best presentations of the trial, but he didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt this guy was insane or incapable of understanding his criminal responsibility.”

Prosecutor Brian Glenny, who methodically proved that Toolan executed a premeditated plan to murder Lochtefeld nearly three years ago, praised the different law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation and the Lochtefeld family.

“At no time did we ever think it was a legitimate defense,” Glenny said following the verdict. “We never prescribed to the theory that he was not criminally responsible. The Lochtefelds have gone through a tragic situation. To hear how your daughter, sister or cousin was murdered for two weeks during a trial is difficult, and they were able to do that in commendable fashion.”

Asked if he felt Toolan had received a fair trial on Nantucket despite the pretrial publicity and the small community from which the jury was chosen, Glenny said, “without question.”

Toolan was found guilty not only of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, but also assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was also sentenced to a nine to 10-year prison term on that charge, which will run concurrently with his life sentence.

The guilty verdict does, however, trigger an automatic appeal to the state Supreme Judicial Court.

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